Constantine II of Scotland

Constantine II of Scotland (841-877) was King of Scotland from 862 to 877, succeeding Donald I of Scotland and preceding Aed of Scotland. He sent missionaries to Jorvik to convert King Halfdan Whiteshirt and the Vikings to Christianity, but these missionaries were all imprisoned and executed; Constantine himself was killed by the Vikings in 877.

Biography
Constantine was born in 841, the son of Kenneth MacAlpin. Constantine became king of Scotland and the Picts on the death of his father in 862, and he had to cope with the arrival of the Great Heathen Army of the Vikings in 865. Constantine allied with King Aella of Northumbria against the Vikings, leading to some battles with the kingdom of Jorvik under Halfdan Whiteshirt in southern Scotland. Constantine defeated and killed Amlaib Conung, a Viking king of Ireland, but in 875 another Viking army arrived in Pictland. At the battle of Dollar, a great slaughter of the Picts ensued, and Constantine was slain at Fife Ness, being beheaded on a beach after being defeated in the battle with Vikings there.